North-east man found guilty of raping women across three decades

A north-east man has been found guilty of raping two women between the 1980s and last year.

Brian Gillies, from Skene Street in Peterhead, went on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen last Tuesday to face 12 separate charges all relating to offences against women – four of which involved rape.

It took a jury of eight women and seven men about two hours to find the 62-year-old guilty of every offence yesterday.

The accused was put on the sex offenders register and remanded in custody following the verdict.

Defence agent, David Moggach, told the court that his client had no previous convictions and is registered as disabled.

During closing speeches on Monday, advocate depute James Keegan urged the jury to convict Gillies.

He said the two women were credible in giving their evidence and noted that one recoiled at the suggestion that the alleged events did not happen.

He said: “I say when you assess the evidence, you will be left in no doubt that the accused did indeed commit the crimes.”

Mr Keegan also claimed Gillies had been “fantasising” about his second victim even as he gave evidence in the case.

As well as being convicted of four rape charges, Gillies was found guilty of detaining one of the women against her will and assaulting her in the early 1990s.

There was another charge of assaulting a woman in the early 1990s, and one of assaulting a woman “on various occasions” between the mid-1990s and 2010 at addresses across the north-east.

Gillies was found guilty of an allegation of behaving in a disorderly manner by uttering sexual remarks at a woman in Fraserburgh on July 5, 2001.

There was another charge of assaulting a woman in 2007 and three of sexually assaulting women 0n three different occasions within the past four years.

The trial was held before Lord Kinclaven, who deferred sentence until Friday, September 28, at the High Court in Glasgow while social work reports are completed.